Bethlehem City Hall was evacuated Tuesday morning when an air-conditioning unit on the roof malfunctioned, said fire officials. Assistant Chief Michael Sankovsky said smoke began drifting through the building around 9:30 a.m. He said the smoke came from equipment on the roof of the building at 10 E. Church St. Dozens of workers waited outside for about an hour while fire crews investigated. Workers started going back inside about 10:20 a.m.

By mid-morning Monday, 95-year-old Helen Beer had just finished her daily Bible reading and was preparing do the wash when she heard the racket outside her sleepy south Bethlehem home. It was Mayor Robert Donchez. And his Cabinet, city inspectors, a fire truck and public works vehicles. They were making their way down her narrow street of World War I-era double homes and row houses. "This is certainly not something I see every day," said Beer, who has lived at 1220 E. Third St. since she was 11. "It's a surprise.

Bethlehem City Hall has re-opened following an evacuation sparked by a bomb scare to the police station, authorities said. Employees inside city hall at 10 E. Church St., were ordered out at 11:13 a.m. as firefighters and police searched the entire building for anything suspicious, authorities said. The building was re-opened at 1:30 p.m. Police Lt. Mark DiLuzio said a man called in a bomb threat to the police department and the building was evacuated as part of the protocol to investigate the threat.

Esther Lee , president of the NAACP's Bethlehem branch, helped organize a demonstration near Bethlehem City Hall last week in the wake of the verdict that acquitted George Zimmerman of killing Trayvon Martin, a black teenager, in Florida. Lee is the subject of this week's Q&A: Q: What were some of your first thoughts when you heard about the jury's decision that Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder? A: Oh, I was beside myself. I cannot interpret that decision.

Bethlehem City Hall was partially without phone service Monday morning, and the phone company was working to fix the problem. Bethlehem officials said emergency numbers remained in operation. Verizon hoped full service would be restored soon, according to a news release. Callers unable to reach departments or bureaus could call the phone numbers listed below to connect to their party, the release said: Administration – 610-865-7014 Mayor's Office – 610-865-7014 Community and Economic Development – 610-865-7091 Health Bureau – 610-865-7083 Parks and Public Property – 610-865-7079 Public Works: Streets Bureau – 610-865-7054 Engineering – 610-865-7063 Water and Sewer Resources – 610-865-7070 Police: Investigations – 610-997-7976 Records – 610-765-7175 Traffic – 610-865-7153

Gerald Still presents the pamphlet "Military Markers and Monuments of Lehigh and Northampton Counties" during the annual Pearl Harbor Day ceremony at Bethlehem City Hall. Still, a colonel in the Air Force Reserve, co-authored the pamphlet, which catalogs 152 monuments in the two counties. Still and co-author Don Graham found many memorials are in unexpected places. "We went to everything," he said. "If someone said, "We think there's a monument somewhere in the woods,' we went. Most of the monuments that were really obscure were in cemeteries.

Much is happening around Bethlehem City Hall these days concerning gifts of public art and landscaping. For starters, a massive granite sculpture by Allentown artist Dan Kainz has been installed just above Sakon Plaza, the wrap-around street east of City Hall. Using a large flatbed truck, giant crane and crew of five, Kainz installed the giant 65,000-pound arched stone work that has become a gateway of sorts, to the city's otherwise and often-missed sculpture garden. Installation of the sculpture is temporary, to last only three years until the next sculpture competition.

The Delaware and Lehigh Canal commission will establish its first headquarters in Bethlehem City Hall, according to acting Executive Director C. Allan Sachse. The canal commission will lease space for the cost of utilities and maintenance, Sachse and city Business Administrator Robert C. Wilkins said Friday. The commission had considered renting space on the second floor of the Bethlehem Area Public Library building, next to City Hall on Church Street, but space would have to be modified to accommodate offices, Sachse said.

The days of people strolling through Bethlehem City Hall unchecked, unwatched and unimpeded are about to end. Public building bombings, shootings and threats in government offices nationwide have Bethlehem officials making City Hall the first in the Lehigh Valley to restrict access to the public. It doesn't mean people can't get into City Hall to buy their pool tags or pay their water bills. It just means they should be ready to check in at the door and explain their destination and business.

The warring parties in last week's fight in Bethlehem City Hall will meet separately with their boss, who will hear what they have to say. Until they do, Police Commissioner Francis Donchez won't release details of his department's investigation into the fight that broke out Thursday between Deputy Community Development Director Dana Grubb and Environmental Health Director Harvey Joseph. Mayor John Callahan said the matter could be resolved as soon as today. Grubb and Joseph face meetings with their supervisor, Community and Economic Development Director Tony Hanna.

By Frank Warner and Nicole Radzievich", Of The Morning Call | July 17, 2013

Lehigh Valley civil rights groups rallied in Bethlehem on Wednesday evening to urge legal reforms in response to a Florida jury's finding George Zimmerman not guilty of murder in the shooting of Trayvon Martin. Esther Lee, president of the Bethlehem chapter of the NAACP, said Zimmerman's acquittal shows the states must repeal "stand-your-ground" laws, which she said endanger minorities more than others. She said Florida's law has to be targeted first, and she urged the more than 100 demonstrators outside Bethlehem City Hall to boycott Florida - and Florida orange juice in particular - until the law is changed.

The Jim Gregory story took what I hope is a final turn Friday when Judge Leonard Zito sentenced him to six months in jail for Gregory's repeated violations of his girlfriend's Protection From Abuse order. Zito ordered drug and alcohol and psychological evaluations for the former Bethlehem City Council president and write-in mayoral candidate. Earlier, the judge also made permanent a PFA sought by Gregory's sister and mother. I was there for the morning portion of the hearings, but I left and missed Zito's subsequent ruling and what witnesses said were emotional displays by both the defendant and his sidekick, incendiary blogger Tricia Mezzacappa.

If you Google "It's all fun and games until someone … ," you'll find "loses an eye," "gets hurt," "gets pregnant," "gets shot," "calls the cops" and lots more. It's an expression that fits a lot of situations. As I tried to sort out Wednesday's dispiriting Protection from Abuse hearing involving Bethlehem mayor write-in candidate Jim Gregory and his former girlfriend, that phrase floated into my mind. Over the years, I've mostly had fun and games with former Bethlehem Council President Gregory, at one time a lesser luminary in my Hall of Fame of the area's most colorful characters.

Five-term Bethlehem City Councilman Robert Donchez clinched the Democratic nomination for mayor last week, all but assuring he will be the city's 12 t h mayor barring write-in votes or a third-party candidate in the general election. He'll be the first new mayor in Bethlehem in a decade. He is the subject of this week's Q&A. Q: How much sleep did you get election night? How did you spend the morning after? A: We left [the campaign party at the Comfort Suites in south Bethlehem]

LEHIGH COUNTY LOWER MACUNGIE TOWNSHIP COMMUNTY CENTER , 3450 Brookside Road, Macungie, will be the site of author Anita Hirsch who will give a talk 6 p.m. Tuesday. Hirsch will be signing her book, "Wildwood-By-the-Sea: Nostalgia and Recipes. " The book is a nostalgic cookbook with wonderful photographs from past and present highlighting summers spent in Wildwood, N.J. Samples of Blueberry buckle and New Year's Punch will be available. Both recipes are from her book. Hirsch will tell stories and participants will be able to share their own stories of the "Jersey Shore.

As it has been for months, Bethlehem City Hall was divided yesterday on the rezoning of Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s South Side properties. City planners worried while, a floor above them, Mayor Ken Smith was as gung-ho as ever. "I don't know how far along the company is in talking with (potential investors and developers)," said the mayor. "But I'd say you'll see a positive result within six months, whether it's a shovel in the ground or the announcement of a specific project." Not everyone was so sanguine.

The Historical and Architectural Review Board gave Bethlehem the green light to fix up what has become City Hall's main entrance. The Parks Department proposed that 26 of the mature linden trees surrounding the buildings be removed and a walkway using paving stones be built at the W. Church Street entrance. That entrance, originally just a side entrance, has been designated the main entrance so that building security can be maintained. The trees are damaging the buildings and do not allow enough sunlight through for the smaller plants under them to grow, the board was told.

Bethlehem City Hall has re-opened following an evacuation sparked by a bomb scare to the police station, authorities said. Employees inside city hall at 10 E. Church St., were ordered out at 11:13 a.m. as firefighters and police searched the entire building for anything suspicious, authorities said. The building was re-opened at 1:30 p.m. Police Lt. Mark DiLuzio said a man called in a bomb threat to the police department and the building was evacuated as part of the protocol to investigate the threat.

A bomb threat called into Bethlehem 911 on Monday morning prompted a lockdown of City Hall and evacuation of the neighboring library after two suspicious packages were discovered, authorities said. The unidentified caller first triggered the lockdown of City Hall and an investigation by the city's bomb squad, which discovered a suspicious package that was later found to be harmless. About 30 minutes after police lifted the City Hall lockdown, the library's main branch on E. Church Street was evacuated when a second suspicious package was found.